Contacted had hit the nail squarely on the head. The question is not can you afford to live in Dubai, it is how long you need to live there before you can afford to go home.
If you want to retire to the UK (say) you will need a significant nest egg. I think that being in Dubai will let me retire about 5 years earlier than I could if I was working in the UK. That is enough to keep me in the land of sand for a bit longer.